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IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Tenth Anniversary of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge after survey opens on May 3, 2019. Reflections open on May 6.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Themes That Rocked the Challenge - Cat Starr and Travels Around the World!

Today we welcome Cat Starr fromAstral Travellerand her travels around the world!

Your theme was travel photos from around the world – what made you choose that theme?

When I travel, I keep a daily blog of what I did and what I saw. However, only a few of my photos ever make it to the daily story and rarely do I focus on one topic. Occasionally, I will write in more detail about a place I visited and include more pictures. I saw this challenge as a way to write on specific topics and share more of the stories and pictures that interested me during my travels.

Which letter was your favorite?

My favourite was F = Food shopping in Barcelona. This is still one of my all-time favourite experiences and I highly recommend the Cook and Taste cooking school in Barcelona. Coming in at a close second is J = Jewelry shopping in Santorini. This was a very personal story because I am usually very frugal in my purchases.

This one was definitely a budget-breaker that led to another questionable decision -- walking down over 300 steps to get to the dock!

Which letter was the most difficult?

X! I never really found anything that would fit for X or Z. that will be my biggest challenge next year as well!

How many palaces have you visited?

I’m not really sure! I think The first palace I visited was the Royal Palace in Madrid. The Casa de las Rosas in Buenos Aires is a beautiful building built in the style of European grand palaces. It was on a cruise to the Baltic that I really started visiting palaces. In St. Petersburg, I visited the Hermitage Museum, which is really a collection of five separate palaces. Then there was Catherine’s Palace and Peterhof – the one Peter the Great designed based on Versailles. I also visited a palace in Stockholm and watched the Changing of the Guard, complete with the Horse Guards and a band on horseback! I visited two palaces in Copenhagen and finally the Palace of Versailles – in order to compare it to Petehof. As for London, I’ve walked by Buckingham Palace, but never been in it. Same with Holyrood in Edinburgh – it was closed when I was there due to a royal visit.

What was the most interesting thing you saw at the Helsinki Market?

At almost any market, it is always the food! In the Helsinki Market, it was Finnish fish from Lapland, salmon soup and paella -- that is definitely not the same as paella in Spain! In fact, I really think they need to call it something else (not that it wasn’t good – just not paella!).

What was the weirdest food item you saw in Barcelona?

This is an easy one, the whole goat heads and the “pig faces” (basically just the skin of the pig head).

Where on Earth is Kotor?

Kotor is a small port community in the country of Montenegro. You sail through some beautiful fjords to get to the Bay of Kotor and this beautifully walled town. It is stunning!

What theme are you considering for the Challenge next year?

I have been one more adventures since last year – one to the UK and Ireland and one to the Canadian Maritimes. Therefore, I’ve built up a lot more stories to share! G will probably be for Gaspe – one of my favourite experiences this past year. I lived in the UK for a while – look forward to those photos, Cat!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh is the author of Amazon Best-sellers CassaStar, CassaFire, and CassaStorm, and his blog can be found HERE